Usually when men speak of something as a habit, reference is made to some manifestation of oft-repeated, involuntary physical action; but to Christian Scientists, who know that matter has no governing power of its own, it seems very evident that habits play an exceedingly important role in the experience of mankind. They are aware of the fact that habits can be mental as well as physical.
Great efforts always have been made to inhibit the automatic repetition of wrong physical action, whether it has been detected in an improper method of using eating utensils or in the development of inebriation. Habit control is a problem which concerns parents, teachers, and psychologists alike. It invariably involves attempts to eliminate habits generally conceded to be bad, even as it aims to cultivate what are known as good or desirable habits.
Although so much time and thought have been given to the processes of acquiring or inhibiting physical habits, little or no attention, outside of Christian Science, has been attracted by the development of habits of thought, either good or bad. Yet to think habitually either good or evil thoughts is the prerequisite of habitual right or wrong action, as the case may be. Praiseworthy physical behavior cannot be independent of praiseworthy mental behavior; and because of this fact, should not mankind be more concerned in the formation and development of their mental habits?
